You’ve probably heard it before: the business office is the heart of the dealership. Every document, process, and transaction initiated eventually finds its way there. Without the business office, the dealership couldn’t operate. So why is it often left in the rear-view mirror and one of the last departments to go digital?

In an ever-increasing push to digitize your dealership, keeping the momentum going as everything makes its way into the office is more important than ever. Here’s what a digital business office can do for you and your customers:

• Simplified reconciliation. Reduce keystroke errors when payments are received by tying the credit card payment receipt to your processor submission. This creates a pain-free reconciliation process and reduces time spent reconciling every cash drawer.
• Reduced expenses. The cost of documentation and sending mail to customers might not seem like much, but it adds up over time. For every four-drawer filing cabinet, the associated creation and storage costs for the 10-12,000 documents are approximately $1,500. Additionally the cost of printing and postage for every cash receipt, EFT remittance, and A/R statement can cost you thousands a month.
• Less rekeying. Think about the process of finalizing a deal. Does the business office normally have to revisit each one to make modifications to descriptions and calculations? In a digital format, those fields will come over complete and accurate. This eliminates variance between F&I and the office, and reduces time spent posting the deal.
• Simplified access. When documents are stored electronically, the retrieval process becomes a breeze. If a customer requests a copy of their invoice or statement, documents can be retrieved in minutes, not days. With a permanent electronic paper trail, you’re also reducing how often documents are trading hands and keeping up with document retention requirements.
• Less errors. Post accounting adjustments from external files in a matter of seconds with the correct amounts and descriptions. Identified expenses for multi-store groups are posted once, expensing every store in one entry and adding offsetting payable and receivable entries to all other stores. This keeps them accurate and in balance.

The business office is the heart of the dealership, so why not give it a little extra love? Digitizing processes in the business office can help with reconciliation, expenses, manual entry, security, and errors.

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